QuakeScout
Magnitude4.3

Reviewed by USGSTurkey51y ago

M4.3 earthquake 22 km NW of Kulp, Turkey

Sunday, October 12, 1975, 21:47:25 UTC · 38.625°N, 40.809°E

A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck 22 km NW of Kulp, Turkey on Sunday, October 12, 1975, 21:47:25 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow).

Magnitude
4.3
Light · mb
Depth
33 km
Shallow
Felt reports
0
Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking
—
No ShakeMap
PAGER alert
None
Not issued
Tsunami
No flag
USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 50 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

43 tons of TNT

That is about 1/354 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 11 times more energy.

Tectonic setting

30 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Eurasian and Arabian plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

33 km

Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.

Did You Feel It?

Where it was felt

No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.

I felt it — report to USGS ↗

USGS PAGER estimate

Who was exposed to shaking

USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.

After the main event

Aftershocks within 50 km

USGS lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.0 on November 8, 1975. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

M3M41h6h1d3d7d14d30dMainshock M4.3
Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.
  1. 4.015 km NW of Lice, Turkey51y ago · 24 km W of this epicenter

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 91 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 7.820 km NNE of Erzincan, TurkeyDecember 26, 1939 · 177 km NW of this epicenter
  2. 6.918 km ESE of Pasinler, TurkeySeptember 13, 1924 · 172 km NE of this epicenter
  3. 6.813 km NNE of Sincik, TurkeyDecember 4, 1905 · 196 km W of this epicenter
  4. 6.814 km NE of Varto, TurkeyAugust 19, 1966 · 97 km NE of this epicenter
  5. 6.814 km ENE of Yedisu, TurkeyAugust 17, 1949 · 98 km N of this epicenter
  6. 6.77 km ENE of Lice, TurkeySeptember 6, 1975 · 18 km SW of this epicenter
  7. 6.6TurkeyMay 22, 1971 · 34 km NW of this epicenter
  8. 6.3TurkeyMay 18, 1929 · 296 km NW of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 44 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 66,688 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1939M7.8

    Erzincan

    26 Dec 1939 · 177 km away · intensity XII

    32,700 deaths$20 million damagetsunami

  2. 1859M6.1

    Erzurum

    2 Jun 1859 · 148 km away

    15,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

  3. 1784

    Erzurum,Erzincan

    23 Jul 1784 · 164 km away

    5,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)

  4. 1903M6.3

    Malazgirt

    28 Apr 1903 · 156 km away · intensity X

    3,560 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)

  5. 1966M6.8

    Varto

    19 Aug 1966 · 95 km away · intensity IX

    2,394 deaths$20 million damage

  6. 1975M6.7

    Lice

    6 Sep 1975 · 18 km away · intensity IX

    2,311 deaths$17 million damage

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

Closest city pages